The present invention is directed to new polymeric biguanides having potent antimicrobial activity and little, if any, toxicity relative to human tissues. The amidopolybiguanides disclosed herein have many industrial applications, but are especially useful as antimicrobial preservatives in pharmaceutical compositions. The invention is particularly directed to the use of these compounds in compositions and methods for disinfecting contact lenses, and to the preservation of various types of ophthalmic products.
Contact lenses are exposed to a broad spectrum of microbes during normal wear and become soiled relatively quickly. Routine cleaning and disinfecting of the lenses are therefore required. Although the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting may vary somewhat among different types of lenses and lens care regiments, daily cleaning and disinfecting is normally required. Failure to clean and disinfect the lens properly can lead to a multitude of problems ranging from mere discomfort when the lenses are being worn to serious ocular infections. Ocular infections caused by particularly virulent microbes, such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, can lead to loss of the infected eye(s) if left untreated, or if allowed to reach an advanced stage before treatment is initiated. It is therefore extremely important that patients disinfect their contact lenses in accordance with the regimen prescribed by their optometrist or ophthalmologist.
Unfortunately, patients frequently fail to follow the prescribed regimens. Many patients find regimens to be difficult to understand and/or complicated, and as a result do not comply with one or more aspects of the regimen. Other patients may have a negative experience with the regimen, such as ocular discomfort attributable to the disinfecting agent, and as a result do not routinely disinfect their lenses or otherwise stray from the prescribed regimen. In either case, the risk of ocular infections is exacerbated.
Despite the availability of various types of contact lens disinfecting systems, such as heat, hydrogen peroxide, and other chemical agents, there continues to be a need for improved systems which: 1) are simple to use, 2) have potent antimicrobial activity, and 3) are nontoxic (i.e., do not cause ocular irritation as the result of binding to the lens material). Conventional contact lens cleaners with potent antimicrobial activity also have rather high toxicity. There is, therefore, a particular need in the fields of contact lens disinfection and ophthalmic composition preservation for safe and effective chemical agents with high antimicrobial activity and low toxicity.
The use of polymeric biguanide compounds as disinfecting agents is well known. Commercially available polybiguanides are hexamethylene biguanide polymers that have end groups consisting of a cyanoguanidine group and an amino group, respectively. The widely-used polybiguanide Cosmocil CQ (polyhexamethylene biguanide or "PHMB") has strong antimicrobial activity, but rather high toxicity. A principal objective of the present invention is to provide polymeric biguanides that preserve antimicrobial activity comparable to PHMB, but are less toxic to human tissue than PHMB. As explained below, this objective has been achieved by means of a unique modification of the terminal amino groups of PHMB.
The present invention is directed to satisfaction of the above-cited needs and objectives.